


Reading The Spook's Apprentice

by EliotQuentinMagician



Series: Reading the Wardstone Chronicles [1]
Category: The Wardstone Chronicles - Joseph Delaney
Genre: F/M, Gen, first time doing one of these, not my usual story, reading the book, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-15 04:29:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16926519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EliotQuentinMagician/pseuds/EliotQuentinMagician
Summary: When the Ward family get worried about their youngest member and they job he has taken up they get taken to a room with a stack of books that detail his travels and what he has been doing and what he will do. They family decide to read the books to quench their curiosity and their worry.Set after the first two books.Whilst these books are aimed at young adults they are quite good and some of the events depicted are not particularly for children. I suggest that if you don't want to read this then at least have a try at the series by Joseph Delaney, they are really good.





	Reading The Spook's Apprentice

**Author's Note:**

> I do not and never will own the Wardstone Chronicles but I've always been curious on what the family would think if they found out everything that Tom has done. I also added Tom's six siblings because I wanted to add my own take on the ones that aren't featured fully in the books.

The Ward family were doing their own thing with Mam in the kitchen with Ellie preparing a meal, Jack and Dad doing various jobs around the farm, James working at the Blacksmith’s, Jonathan at the butchers, Michael at the the slaughterhouse, Brian at the stonemason’s and William at the carpenters. Before any of them knew what was happening they were in a room together that contained comfy seats as well as candles and a table where a series of books lay. 

Jack quickly looked around and silently swore under his breath when he saw that the rest of his family apart from one person was there and they all looked equally confused. 

  
“Not that I’m not happy to see any of you but does anyone know what just happened?” Jack asked and when he got no reply he immediately looked at his mother, knowing she would most likely have some idea seeing as she always seemed to have knowledge of everything that happened.

  
“It seems we have been taken somewhere but maybe the note on the table will help explain what’s going on.” Mam replied before making her way to the table and picking up the sheet of paper next to the stack of books that had gone unnoticed by everyone else in the room.

“What does it say dear?” Dad asked Mam whose eyes skimmed the note and a slight frown that appeared on her face signalled that they may not like what they were about to hear.

“ _ Dear Ward family,  _

_ By now you are probably wondering where you are and for what reason you have appeared here and I am sorry for frightening you but it has recently come to my attention that you have concerns for your youngest male family member that is not present. Therefore I have decided in order to quench your curiosity and worries about the apprenticeship he has taken I am allowing you to read a series of books which entail his time as an apprentice. This means that the events that happen in the first two books have already transpired, however from there the event that are written in the other books have not occurred yet but will unless things are somehow changed. Finally I am sorry to tell you that not all of you will be present in the books but it is essential that you are here seeing as you want to make sure your brother is doing well so I will now let you decide whether you want to proceed and read the books and if you do then time will not continue but will be frozen until you finish but if not then I will take you back to where you were previously and time will continue as usual.  _

_ Signed -  nobody important.” _

Once Mam had finished reading the family all looked at each other and whilst some looked apprehensive they knew they had come to the same conclusion; they wanted to know about their brother’s new apprenticeship and how he was doing. They all proceeded to get comfortable before Brian spoke up.

“So who is going to read first?”

“I will and we all might as well read a chapter each so that it is fair.” Dad spoke up as he picked up the first book of the stack.

**Chapter 1 - A Seventh Son**

**When the Spook arrived, the light was already beginning to fail. It had been a long, hard day and I was ready for supper.**

“It must be from Tom’s perspective.” Ellie observed which caused the others to nod their heads in agreement.

**“You’re sure he’s a seventh son?” he asked. He was looking down at me and shaking his head doubtfully.**

**Dad nodded.**

**“And you were a seventh son too?”**

**Dad nodded again and started stamping his feet impatiently,**

This caused a few of the brothers to snort slightly in humour whilst Mam had a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

**Splattering my breeches with droplets of brown mud and manure. The rain was dripping from the peak of his cap. It had been raining for most of the month.**

“When doesn’t it rain?” WIlliam asked in slight annoyance at the weather that never seemed to get better and when it did it was only for a few days.

**There were new leaves on the trees but the spring weather was a long time coming. My dad was a farmer and his father had been a farmer too, and the first rule of farming is to keep the farm together.**

At that the boys all nodded their heads in agreement.

**You can’t just divide it up amongst your children; it would get smaller and smaller with each generation until there was nothing left. So a father leaves his farm to his eldest son. Then he finds jobs for the rest. If possible, he tries to find each a trade. He needs lots of favours for that. The local blacksmith is one option, especially if the farm is big and he’s given the blacksmith plenty of work. Then it’s odds on that the blacksmith will offer an apprenticeship,**

At that James smirked because as the second oldest the job was awarded to him which meant there wasn’t much struggle finding him and Jack a job, it was the rest that took some searching.

**But that’s still only one son sorted out. I was his seventh, and by the time it came to me all the favours had been used up. Dad was so desperate that he was trying to get the Spook to take me on as his apprentice.**

“Well it worked didn’t it.” Dad said slightly indignantly which caused the others to laugh slightly whilst Mam smirked, knowing full well it was her doing that made the Spook take on her youngest son as his apprentice.

**Or at least that’s what I thought at the time. I should have guessed that Mam was behind it.**

Jack gave Mam an apprehensive look whilst Dad looked at her with a fond look on his face which showed all the love he had for that women.

**She was behind a lot of things. Long before I was born, it was her money that had bought out farm. How else could a seventh son have afforded it?**

“And I have been grateful ever since dear.” Dad told Mam who gave him a rare smile that she reserved for her family.

**And Mam wasn’t County. She came from a land far across the sea. Most people couldn’t tell, but sometimes, if you listened very carefully, there was a slight difference in the way she pronounced certain words.**

“I never really noticed, I thought you were born here.” Ellie told Mam.

“Well I have lived here for a few decades so I guess my accent slowly disappeared over time.” Mam replied to Ellie who nodded her head.

**Still, don’t imagine that I was being sold into slavery or something. I was bored with farming anyway, and what they called ‘the town’ was hardly more than a village in the back of beyond. It was certainly no place that I wanted to spend the rest of my life.**

“What why not? It’s a good place once you get used to it, a but small but still it’s nice.” Michael said with a slight frown before Jack replied.

  
“Yeah well you know our brother, he likes to go out and explore, he doesn’t want to be cooped up in one place forever.” He said showing a rare moment of him sticking up for his brother who he seemed to just hold small amounts of anger for recently.

**So in one way I quite liked the idea of being a spook; it was much more interesting than milking cows and spreading manure. It made me nervous though, because it was a scary job. I was going to learn how to protect farms and villages from things that go bump in the night. Dealing with ghouls, boggarts and all manner of wicked beasties would be all in a day’s work.**

This caused a few of the room’s occupants to shift in their seat uncomfortably but at the same time they all had a curious gleam in their eye that showed that whilst they were uncomfortable about what the job entailed, they were also intrigued about what Tom would be doing for the rest of his life.

**That’s what the Spook did and I was going to be his apprentice.**

**“How old is he?” asked the Spook.**

**“He’ll be thirteen come August.”**

**Bit small for his age. Can he read and write?”**

“What’s with all of these questions?” Asked William and it was Dad that replied.   
“He wanted to make sure that Tom was definitely up to the task and that he was suitable for the job.” His answer caused a few to nod their heads to show they understood.

**“Aye.” Dad answered. “He can do both and he also knows Greek. His mam taught him and he could speak it almost before he could walk.”**

**The Spook nodded and looked back across the muddy path beyond the gate towards the farmhouse, as if he were listening for something. The he shrugged. “It’s a hard enough life for a man, never mind a boy,” he said. “Think he’s up to it?”**

  
At this Mam smiled again knowing that even if he wasn’t up for it yet, he would be soon and he would become a great Spook.

**“He’s strong and he’ll be as big as me when he’s full grown,” my dad said, straightening his back and drawing himself up to his full height. That done, the top of his head was just about level with the Spook’s chin.**

Jack and Jon snorted whilst Ellie let out a slight giggle knowing that Dad wouldn’t like knowing Tom had even observed his height compared to the Spook’s.

**Suddenly the Spook smiled. It was the very last thing I’d expected. His face was big and looked as if it had been chiselled from stone. Until then I’d thought him a bit fierce. His long black cloak and hood made him look like a priest, but when he looked at you directly, his grim expression made him appear more like a hangman weighing you up for the rope.**

“Aww it looks as if our little brother was a bit scared of his master at first.” James snickered and the other boys joined in before Dad looked at them with slightly narrowed eyes which shut them up quickly.

**The hair sticking out from under the front of his hood matched his beard, which was grey, but his eyebrows were black and very bushy. There was quite a bit of black hair sprouting out of his nostrils too, and his eyes were green, the same colour as my own. Then I noticed something else about him. He was carrying a long staff. Of course, I’d seen that as soon as he came within sight, but what I hadn’t realized until that moment was that he was carrying it in his left hand.**

“Tom is very observant for his age, he would only be twelve there.” Ellie said in slight surprise and it was William that replied, “Yeah our brother has always been like that. He gets it off Mam.”

This caused said women to smirk slightly.

**Did that mean he was left-handed like me? It was something that had caused me no end of trouble at the village school. They’d even called in the local priest to look at me and he’d kept on shaking his head and telling me I’d have to fight it before it was too late.**

This caused some of them to frown.

**I didn’t know what he meant. None of my brothers were left-handed and neither was my dad. My mam was cack-handed though, and it never seemed to bother her much, so when the teacher threatened to beat it out of me and tied the pen to my right hand,**

At this the brothers growled in anger and protectiveness of their youngest brother who couldn’t control that he was left handed; it wasn’t his fault.

**She took me away from the school and from that day on taught me at home.**

**“How much to take him on?” my dad asked, interrupting my thoughts. Now we were getting down to the real business.**

**“Two guineas for a month’s trial. If he’s up to it, I’ll be back again in the autumn and you’ll owe me another ten. If not, you can have him back and it’ll be just another guinea for my trouble.”**

“Why so much thought?” Brian asked as none of their jobs had cost that much.

  
“Because it’s a dangerous job being a Spook so he wanted to make sure that we would let Tom go and if he wasn’t up to the task then he would get paid for us wasting his time that could have been spent travelling and saving others.” Mam said and the others looked at he but didn’t question what she had said knowing that she was most likely right as she was with everything else.  

**Dad nodded again and the deal was done. We went into the barn and the guineas were paid but they didn’t shake hands. Nobody wanted to touch a spook. My dad was a brave man just to stand within six feet of one.** **  
** This caused Dad to smile as he didn’t think he was that brave himself but he was glad that his son thought he was.

**“I’ve some business close by,” said the Spook, “but I’ll be back for the lad at first light. Make sure he’s ready - I don’t like to be kept waiting.”**

**When he’d gone, Dad tapped me on the shoulder. “It’s a new life for you now son,” he told me. “Go and get yourself cleaned up. You’re finished with farming.”**

“I bet he was happy to hear that, I know I was. No offence.” Jon said hastily adding the apology to the end once he saw the faces of Jack and Dad.

**When I walked into the kitchen, my brother Jack had his arm around his wife Ellie and she was smiling up at him.**

A few laughed as that was the exact position the two were in now as they blushed at each other; earning more laughter from the younger brothers.

**I like Ellie a lot. She’s warm and friendly in a way that makes you feel that she really cares about you.**

Ellie’s blush deepened at the description Tom had given her but a smile graced her face because she liked Tom too and she saw him as a little brother even before she had married Jack.

**Mam says that marrying Ellie was good for Jack because she helped to make him less agitated. Jack is the eldest and biggest of us all and,as Dad sometimes jokes, the best looking of an ugly bunch.**

“Hey!” Five voices rang out whilst two laughed and Dad quickly stopped laughing to say that he was only joking whenever he had said that.

**He is big and strong all right, but despite his blue eyes and healthy red cheeks, his black bushy eyebrows almost meet in the middle, so I’ve never agreed with that.**

This time it was Jack’s turn to shout indignantly whilst everyone else laughed at him. 

“Next time I see him I’ll strangle him.” He said without much hostility so everyone knew that he was only slightly joking.

**One thing I have never argued with is that he managed to attract a kind and pretty wife. Ellie has hair the colour of best-quality straw three days after a good harvest, and skin that really glows in candlelight.**

Ellie blushed again whilst Jack told her that it was true.

**“I’m leaving tomorrow morning,” I blurted out. “The Spook’s coming for me at first light.”**

**Ellie’s face lit up. “You mean he’s agreed to take you on?”**

**I nodded. “He’s giving me a month’s trial.”**

**“Oh, well done, Tom, I’m really pleased for you,” she said.**

“I have to admit that whilst I was pleased I was also cared for him to seeing as everyone always hears about the bad things a spook does and never the good.” Ellie said to the rest, “I know what you mean, that’s what made me apprehensive about it the whole time.” Jack replied.

**“I don’t believe it!” scoffed Jack, “You, apprentice to a spook! How can you do a job like that when you still can’t sleep without a candle.”** **  
**

Some of the brothers laughed at that knowing that when they were still living there it was true and it was nice to know that some things still hadn’t changed after they had left.

**I laughed at his joke but he had a point. I sometimes saw things in the dark and a candle was the best way to keep them away so that I could get some sleep.**

Jack now felt bad for making fun of him for sleeping with a candle for so long now that he knew the reason.

**Jack came towards me, and with a roar got me in a head-lock and began dragging me round the kitchen table. It was his idea of a joke. I put up just enough resistance to humour him, and after a few seconds he let go of me and patted me on the back.**

**“Well done, Tom,” he said. “You’ll make a fortune doing that job. There’s just one problem though…”**

**“What’s that?” I asked.**

**“You’ll need every penny you earn. Know why?”**

**I shrugged.**

**“Because the only friends you’ll have are the ones you buy!”**

“Jack!” Most of the occupants shouted in the room causing him to slightly shrink into his own large frame and he shivered slightly at his mother’s glare that could make the most bravest man turn tail and run.

**I tried to smile, but there was a lot of truth in Jack’s words. A spook worked and lived alone.**

**“Oh, Jack! Don’t be cruel!” Ellie scolded.**

**“It was only a joke,” Jack replied, as if he couldn’t understand why Ellie was making so much fuss.**

“Yeah I wonder why.” Brian said sarcastically which caused Jack to roll his eyes in reply.

**But Ellie was looking at me rather than Jack and I saw her face suddenly drop. “Oh, Tom!” she said. “This means that you won’t be here when the baby’s born…”**

**She looked really disappointed and it made me feel sad that I wouldn’t be at home to see my new niece. Mam had said that Ellie’s baby was going to be a girl and she was never wrong about things like that.**

They all looked at Mam and nodded their heads to show that they agreed with the statement.

**“I’ll come back and visit just as soon as I can,” I promised.**

**Ellie tried to smile, and Jack came up and rested his arm across my shoulders. “You’ll always have your family,” he said. “We’ll always be here if you need us.”**

“You’ve got that right.” James said in a fierce tone knowing that none of them would like it if Tom would get into trouble and not ask them for help.

**An hour later I sat down to supper, knowing that I’d be gone in the morning. Dad said grace as he did every evening and we all muttered “Amen” except Mam. She just stared down at her food as usual, waiting politely until it was over. As the prayer ended, Mam gave me a little smile. It was a warm, special smile and I don’t think anyone else noticed. It made me feel better.**

“All of Mam’s smiles make everyone feel better.” William said with a smile of his own directed at his Mam who thanked him and gave him a small smile back, much like the one she had given Tom in the book.

**The fire was still burning in the grate, filling the kitchen with warmth. At the centre of our large wooden table was a brass candlestick, which had been polished until you could see your face in it. The candle was made of beeswax and was expensive, but Mam wouldn’t allow tallow in the kitchen because of the smell. Dad made most of the decisions on the farm, but in some things she always got her own way.**

“Only in important things and things about the way the house looks.” Mam said to which Dad nodded; not wanting to disagree with his wife.

**As we tucked into our big plates of steaming hotpot, it struck me how old Dad looked tonight - old and tired -**

Dad made a disgruntled noise in protest whilst the brothers snickered to themselves before Dad kept on reading.

**And there was an expression that flickered across his face from time to time, a hint of sadness. But he brightened up a bit when he and Jack started discussing the price of pork and whether or not it was the right time to send for the pig butcher.**

**“Better wait another month or so,” Dad said. “The price is sure to go higher.”**

**Jack shook his head and they began to argue.**

“You shouldn’t argue with dad about that stuff, he’s been doing it a lot longer than you Jack.” Jon said in a tone that showed he was trying to be smug about something.

**It was a friendly argument, the kind families often have, and I could tell that Dad was enjoying it. I didn’t join in though. All that was over for me. As Dad had told me, I was finished with farming. Mam and Ellie were chuckling together softly. I tried to catch what they were saying, but by now Jack was in full flow, his voice getting louder and louder.**

“I hate it when you do that, it’s so annoying.” James groaned whilst Jack opened and closed his mouth as if to argue back but Dad started reading again before an argument could start.

**When Mam glanced across at him I could tell she’d had enough of his noise. Oblivious to Mam’s glances and continuing to argue loudly, Jack reached across for the salt cellar and accidently knocked it over, spilling a small cone of salt onto the table top. Straight away he took a pinch and threw it back over his left shoulder.**

Some laughed quietly at this.

**It is an old County superstition. By doing this you were supposed to ward off the bad luck you’d earn by spilling it.**

**“Jack, you don’t need any salt on that anyway,” Mam scolded. “It spoils a good hotpot and is an insult to the cook!”**

**“Sorry, Mam,” Jack apologized. “You’re right. It’s perfect just as it is.”** **  
**

Everyone laughed at this, even Mam, as they knew not to make Mam mad as she could get quite scary when she does.

**She gave him a smile then nodded towards me. “Anyway, nobody’s taking any notice of Tom. That’s no way to treat him on his last night at home.”**

**“I’m alright, Mam,” I told her. “I’m happy just to sit here and listen.”**

**Mam nodded. “Well, I’ve got a few things to say to you. After supper stay down in the kitchen and we’ll have a talk.”**

“You make it sound like he’s in trouble dear.” Dad said, laughter in his tone to which Mam replied that she had things to discuss with him.

**So after Jack, Ellie and Dad had gone up to bed, I sat in a chair by the fire and waited patiently to hear what Mam had to say.**

**Mam wasn’t a women who made a lot of fuss; at first she didn’t say much apart from explaining what she was wrapping up for me: a spare pair of trousers, three shirts and two pairs of good socks that had only been darned each once.**

**I stared into the embers of the fire, tapping my feet on the flags, while Mam drew up her rocking chair and positioned it so that she was facing directly towards me.**

Everyone leaned in slightly, intrigued to find out what she had said to Tom before he had left.

**Her black hair was streaked with a few strands of grey, but apart from that she looked much the same as she had when I just a toddler, hardly up to her knees. Her eyes were still bright, and but for her pale skin, she looked a picture of health.**

Mam smiled fondly at that.

**“This is the last time we’ll get to talk together for quite a while,” she said. “It’s a big step leaving home and starting out on your own. So if there’s anything you need to say, anything you need to ask, now’s the time to do it.”**

**I couldn’t think of a single question. In fact I couldn’t even think. Hearing her say all that had started tears prickling behind my eyes.**

Mam sighed at this, she didn’t want him feeling like that but she knew what she had told him had to be said.

**The silence went of for quite a while. All that could be heard was my feet tap-tapping on the flags. Finally Mam gave a little sigh. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Has the cat got your tongue?”**

**I shrugged.**

**“Stop fidgeting, Tom, and concentrate on what I’m saying,” Mam warned.**

The brothers all shuddered as they remembered when they had heard her use the exact same tone on them. It wasn’t pleasant.

**“First of all, are you looking forward to tomorrow and starting your new job?”**

**“I’m not sure, Mam,” I told her, remembering Jack’s joke about having to buy friends. “Nobody wants to go anywhere near a spook. I’ll have no friends. I’ll be lonely all the time.”**

“Oh, Tom.” Ellie sighed sadly whilst leaning into Jack who looked guilty at the thoughts he had planted into his little brother’s head.

**“It won’t be as bad as you think,” Mam said. “You’ll have your master to talk to. He’ll be your teacher, and no doubt he’ll eventually become your friend. And you’ll be busy all the time. Busy learning new things. You’ll have no time to feel lonely. Don’t you find the whole thing new and exciting?”**

**“It’s exciting but the job scares me. I want to do it but I don’t know if I can. One part of me wants to travel and see places but it’ll be hard not to live here any more. I’ll miss you all. I’ll miss being at home.”**

**“You can’t stay here,” Mam said.**

“Mam!” The brothers shouted whilst Dad looked slightly shocked at what she had told their youngest son.

“It had to be said or else he would never had gone and he needed to.” Mam said, justifying herself which made her children, daughter-in-law and husband slightly more complacent.

**“Your dad’s getting too old to work, and come next winter he’s handing the farm over to Jack. Ellie will be having her baby soon, no doubt the first of many; eventually there won’t be room for you here.” No, you’d better get used to it before that happens. You can’t come home.”** **  
**

This made them all frown again and Mam looked sad as she realised how harsh it must have sounded to say that to her twelve year old son.

**Her voice seemed cold and a little sharp, and to hear her speak to me like that drove a pain deep into my chest and throat so that I could hardly breathe.**

**I just wanted to go to bed then, but she had a lot to say. I’d rarely heard her use so many words all in one go.**

**“You have a job to do and you’re going to do it,” she said sternly. “And not only do it; you’re going to do it well. I married you dad because he was a seventh son. And I bore him six sons so that I could have you. Seven times seven you are and you have the gift.**

“Wow Mam, it’s nice to know how much we all mean to you.” Jack said in a teasing tone whilst the others laughed.

“You know it’s not like that and that I love you all the same.” Mam said in a stern voice which made the others all nod.

**Your new master’s still strong but he’s some way past his best and his time is finally coming to an end. For nearly sixty years he’s walked the County lines doing his duty. Doing what has to be done. Soon it’ll be your turn. And if you won’t do it, then who will? Who’ll look after the ordinary folk? Who’ll keep them from harm? Who’ll make the farms, villages and towns safe so that women and children can walk the streets and lanes free from fear?”**

**I didn’t know what to say and I couldn’t look her in the eye. I just fought to hold back the tears.**

**“I love everyone in this house,” she said, her voice softening, “but in the whole wide County, you’re the only person who’s really like me. As yet you’re just a boy who’s still a lot of growing to do, but you’re a seventh son of a seventh son. You’ve the gift and the strength to do what has to be done. I know you’re going to make me proud of you.**

Dad smiled as the women he married finally came back as he knew she loved all her children and knew exactly what to say to motivate each one; something he could never do.

**“Well, now,” Mam said, coming to her feet, “I’m glad that we’ve got that sorted out. Now off to bed with you. It’s a big day tomorrow and you want to be at your best.”**

“Wow Mam I think Tom was right, that’s the most I have ever heard you speak all at once before.” Brian said in shock, his brothers silently agreeing with him whilst Mam smiled at him.

**She gave me a hug and a warm smile and I tried really hard to be cheerful and smile back, but once up in my bedroom I sat on the edge of my bed just staring vacantly and thinking about what Mam had told me. My mam is well respected in the neighbourhood. She knows more about plants and medicines than the local doctor, and when there is a problem with delivering a baby, a midwife always sends for her. Mam is an expert on what she calls breech births. Sometimes a baby tries to get born feet first but my mam is good at turning them around while they are still in the womb. Dozens of women in the County owe their lives to her.**

Mam smiled as she didn’t know that Tom knew exactly what her job entailed when helping to deliver a baby and she was happy that people acknowledged that she helped keep her alive. She didn’t mind the praise but she knew it wasn’t just her doing that women survived giving birth, it was still up to the midwife to keep her calm and alive.

**Anyway, that was what my dad always said but Mam was modest and she never mentioned things like that. She just got on with what had to be done and I knew that’s what she expected of me. So I wanted to make her proud.**

**But could she really mean that she’d only married my dad and had my six brothers so that she could give birth to me? It didn’t seem possible.**

“I married you because I fell in love with you and I had six children with you because I love you and every single one of them. Just because I knew in the end that I wanted seven sons so that we could be proud of every single one of them and so that one could protect the County one day doesn’t mean I love any of you any less than Thomas.” Mam said when she saw the slightly sad faces of her family but her body filled with warmth when she saw them all smile at her for what she had just said.

“I love you too my dear.” Dad said whilst looking at her before continuing reading.

**After thinking things through, I went across to the window and sat in the old wicker chair for a few minutes, staring through the window, which faced north.**

**The moon was shining, bathing everything in its silver light. I could see across the farmyard, beyond the two hayfields and the north pasture, right to the boundary of our farm, which ended half way up Hangman’s Hill. I liked the view. I liked Hangman’s Hill from a distance. I liked the way it was the furthest thing you could see.**

“Our brother has some weird thoughts.” Jon said to which the others all agreed.

**For years this had been my routine before climbing into bed each night. I used to stare at that hill and imagine what was on the other side. I knew that it was really just more fields and then, two miles further on, what passed for the local village - half a dozen houses, a small church and an even smaller school - but my imagination conjured up other things. Sometimes I imagined high cliffs with an ocean beyond, or maybe a forest or a great city with tall towers and twinkling lights.**

“At least it’s creative.” James said, talking about their brother’s imagination.

**But now, as I gazed at the hill, I remembered my fear as well. Yes, it was fine from a distance but it wasn’t a place I’d ever want to get close to. Hangman’s Hill, as you might have guessed, didn’t get its name for nothing.**

**Three generations earlier, a war had ragged over the whole land and the men of the County had played their part. It had been the worst of all wars, a bitter civil war where families had been divided and sometimes brother had even fought brother.**

The boys all looked at each other, imagining how bad it must have been because they could never fight one another to the death. Whilst they may fight sometimes they still loved each other and were family and would never dream of harming one another to the point of serious injury.

Dad was thinking along the same lines, though his brothers teased him for being the youngest he still loved them and would never hurt any of them.

**In the last winter of the war there’d been a big battle a mile or so to the north, just on the outskirts of the village. When it was finally over, the winning army had brought their prisoners to this hill and hanged them from the trees on its northern slope. They’d hanged some of their own men too, for what they claimed was cowardice in the face of the enemy, but there was another version of that tale. It was said that some of these men had refused to fight people they considered to be neighbours.**

“At least some of them had some morals and sense of decency back them.” Brian huffed.

**Even Jack never liked working close to that boundary fence, and the dogs wouldn’t go more than a few feet into the wood. As for me, because I can sense things that others can’t, I couldn’t even work in the northern pasture. You see, from there I could hear them. I could hear the ropes creaking and the branches groaning under their weight. I could hear the dead, strangling and choking on the other side of the hill.**

“I feel bad now seeing as we all used to make fun of him and call him a scaredy cat but now that we know what he was hearing I feel bad.” James sighed as he felt ashamed of himself. The others looked down to as they too felt bad for teasing their younger brother when they know knew he must have been terrified hearing those sorts of noises at such a young age.

Ellie felt bad for the young boy as he must not have had anyone to talk to without either sounding crazy or being made fun of and she vowed that every time Tom came back to the farm she would treat him with as much love as she could and always offer him an ear if he ever needed to talk.

**Mam had said they were like each other. Well she was certainly like me in one way: I knew she could also see things that others couldn’t. One winter, when I was very young and all my brothers lived at home, the noises from the hill got so bad at night that I could even hear them from my bedroom. My brothers didn’t hear a thing but I did and I couldn’t sleep. Mam came to my room every time I called, even though she had been up at the crack of dawn to do her chores.**

“Of course I did. I did it for all of you and a mother knows when her child is truly scared and when they are faking it so obviously I would help him no matter what.” Mam said fiercely.

“That’s true. I remember having bad nightmares when I was younger and you used to come into my room every time I had them and would stay until I fell back asleep.” Jack said with a fond smile as he remembered to warmth he felt whenever his mother stayed with him.

**Finally she said she was going to sort it out, and one night she climbed Hangman’s Hill alone and went up into the trees. When she came back, everything was quiet and it stayed like that for months afterwards. So there was one way in which we weren’t alike.**

**Mam was a lot braver than I was.**

“What how did you stop them?” William asked as Dad finished reading.

Mam smiled and tapped the side of her nose as a way of telling them not to be nosey which caused them, even Ellie and Dad, to groan in disappointment.

“Anyway that was the end of the first chapter so who wants to read next?” Dad said and it was silent for a second before Ellie stood up and took the book from Dad and got comfy again before reading the title of the next chapter.

“Chapter 2 - On the Road.”


End file.
